Olympique Lyon crushed Nancy 4-0 in an action-filled encounter on Friday to move into second place on the Ligue 1 table.Lyon took the lead in the 37th minute when France attacker Yoann Gourcuff volleyed home Jeremy Toulalan’s chipped through ball.Nancy captain Youssouf Hadji had the ideal chance to equalise in first-half injury time but his paltry attempted chip from the penalty spot was safely caught by Lyon goalkeeper Remy Vercoutre, who had enough time to sit up and gather his thoughts after diving to his right before claiming the ball. Substitute Jeremy Pied – just seven minutes after coming on – doubled Lyon’s advantage in the 76th minute, getting on the end of a pass from fellow substitute Michel Bastos to double his side’s advantage.Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic became Lyon’s second substitute to score, netting four minutes after his 81st-minute injection for his side’s third goal.Jimmy Briand’s late strike will steal the headlines, however, as the France international’s overhead scissor kick – reminiscent of Wayne Rooney’s wonder goal for Manchester United just six days ago – cannoned into the roof of the net to make it 4-0.The win moved Lyon within four points of league leaders Lille, but the top side have a game in hand on Claude Puel’s men.
In 1789 Benjamin Franklin famously said that “nothing is certain but death and taxes.” When applying this sentiment to Premier League football, many would describe Sir Alex Ferguson’s unerring ability to discover a raw diamond as equally inevitable. The Manchester United manager, incredibly in his 25th year at the club, is on course to achieve the second ‘treble’ of his Old Trafford career. Although his side have been accused of lacking the ‘fantasy’ of previous Manchester United teams, Ferguson’s pragmatic approach to player acquisition during the last few transfer windows appears to be paying dividends this season.
Whilst rivals Manchester City and Chelsea have spent big on the likes of Joleon Lescott, Edin Dzeko and Fernando Torres over the course of the last two seasons, Ferguson has instead invested in relatively unproven youth. However, some of these acquisitions, most notably Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling, are justifying the Scotsman’s frugal approach to squad-reinforcement.
Twenty-two-year-old Hernandez, a £6m signing from Mexican club Chivas, has seamlessly adapted to English football. The forward is statistically the Premier League’s most clinical player, having bagged nine league goals from just 13 shots on target. He has unsurprisingly drawn comparisons with Old Trafford legend and infamous ‘supersub’ Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, having scored on six occasions after coming on as a substitute.
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Smalling, a man who was playing non-league football less than three years ago, has admirably deputised for the side in the absence of England captain Rio Ferdinand. The former Fulham man was signed from the Craven Cottage club for £7m in January 2010 (before completing his move to Old Trafford six months later) and has shown himself to be a cool and composed defender. Prior to Manchester United’s recent 2-1 reverse at Stamford Bridge, Smalling’s five Premier League starts had seen the side concede just four goals.
On the other hand, some critics have pointed to the signings of Bebe and Gabriel Obertan as proof that Ferguson is losing his eye for talent. Then Bordeaux manager Laurent Blanc initially expressed surprise at his former manager’s move for Obertan, and the winger’s displays since arriving at Old Trafford in the summer of 2009 appear to vindicate Blanc’s reservations. Obertan has made a meagre 14 league appearances over the course of the last two seasons, and has failed to show any of the form which saw him awarded Man of the Match in the final of the 2009 Toulon Tournament. His failure to establish himself as a first-team player in the absence of Antonio Valencia is a damning indictment on the Frenchman, with Ferguson instead preferring to re-position central midfielders such as Darren Fletcher and Darron Gibson.
The decision to sign Bebe looks even more baffling. The 20-year-old was signed for £7.4m last summer, an astoundingly high fee when taking into account the fact he was available for free just five weeks before moving from Vitoria Guimaraes to Manchester United. Despite scoring in a Carling Cup win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and in a Champions League victory against Turkish side Bursaspor, Bebe has looked woefully out of depth in a red shirt.
Notwithstanding inauspicious starts to their Manchester United careers, Bebe and Obertan may point to the current first-team regulars that benefitted under the tutelage and guidance of Ferguson. Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Nani all arrived at Old Trafford as relative unknowns, and each one endured a tough start to life in English football. However, Evra, Vidic and Nani have all flourished in the Premier League; indeed each member of the trio is widely considered to be the best in the league in their respective position.
If Ferguson’s most recent recruits can follow the examples of the three mentioned above, his deserved reputation as one of European football’s most prolific talent-spotters will surely continue.
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%image% Australia scored a surprising 2-1 victory over European heavyweight Germany at Borussia Park on Tuesday.
Despite Mario Gomez’ first half goal, the Australians rallied in the second half to topple the home side.
A neatly-taken goals by Blackpool’s David Carney, the 1000th goal conceded by Germany, and a penalty from Luke Wilkshire, consigned the Germans to defeat.
A late goal from Asamoah Gyan earned Ghana a 1-1 draw with England at Wembley.
Recent Liverpool signing Andy Carroll put the Three Lions ahead just before the interval but the English were denied a victory over the World Cup quarter-finalists when Sunderland forward Gyan curled in a fine goal for the Africans.
France and Croatia played out a scoreless draw at the Stade de France, in a rematch of the 1998 World Cup semi-final which saw Croatia coach Slaven Bilic controversially have his opposite number Laurent Blanc sent off.
World Cup semi-finalist Uruguay overcame a late comeback to grab an entertaining 3-2 win over Ireland.
A Shane Long headed effort cancelled out Diego Lugano’s goal but then strikes from Edinson Cavani and Abel Hernandez put the Uruguayans 3-1 ahead.
A Keith Faley penalty gave the Irish a chance but the Uruguayans held on.
The hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Russia and Qatar respectively, played out a 1-1 draw in Doha.
Qatar grabbed a surprise lead through Mohamed Kasoula, but they were denied a famous victory when Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko equalised with a shot that Qatari goalkeeper Meshal Mubarak got a hand to.
Former World Cup champions Italy beat Ukraine 2-1 in Kiev thanks to goals from Giuseppe Rossi and Alessandro Matri.
Greece was held to 0-0 draw by Poland in Piraeus despite a handful of scoring opportunities falling their way in each half.
Portugal beat Finland in Aviero thanks a brace from debutant Rúben Micael.
Canada edged out Belarus at a near-empty stadium in Antalya in Turkey courtesy of a 58th minute strike from Houston Dynamo defender Andre Hainault.
A Michael Krohn-Dehli winner saw Denmark come out on top against Slovakia. Denmark drew first blood after an own goal from Slovakia’s Kornel Salata although the Slovakians drew level Filip Holosko but it was the Brondby midfielder who had the last laugh for the Danes.
A solitary goal separated Bulgaria and Cyprus with the Bulgarians coming out on top courtesy of a contentious Martin Petrov goal.
In Asia, China resoundingly defeated Honduras by three goals thanks to a from goal from Huang Bowen, and a Yang Xu double – all of which were set up by Schalke midfielder Hao Junmin.
In Latin America, Ecuador were held 0-0 by Peru in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Peruvians, who were reduced to 10 men, managed to hold on after goalkeeper Salomon Libman’s saved Ecuador captain Walter Ayovi’s penalty in the first half.
A Matias Fernandez free-kick and Jean Beausejour strike saw Chile beat Colombia 2-0.
Manchester United’s search for Edwin van der Sar’s replacement has come to an end, well as far as the Daily Mail is concerned anyway. They have reported that ‘Atletico keeper De Gea to sign five-year contract with Manchester United as clubs agree £17.8m deal’.
Its common knowledge that the Spanish stopper is one of Manchester United’s top targets, but reports in The Daily Mail are way off the mark according to quotes from David de Gea published on dbs-football.blogspot.com.
“There is nothing, it is all lies. I know nothing about offers from any team, whether it is other clubs or a renewal from Atletico. I have given my all to this team since I have been here, and that will continue today and tomorrow, I will always fight for this team.”
The young Spanish keeper’s comments mean United have got plenty of work left to do if they want to pull off the signing of the 20 year old. There hasn’t been any public refusal from Atletico to do business with United over the highly rated Spanish keeper’s services, so there is still a strong possibility of a deal being carved out.
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A football fan will defend his team and its players till the cows come home against rival fans, because after all no-one likes to hear anything they love being slated; this doesn’t however stop the fans berating, criticising or judging his team’s own players. I believe the fans do have a divine right to highlight the flaws of players that aren’t justifying their starting eleven position, given the time, effort and money invested into the supporting of their club. There are players however who do appear to experience the anger of their own fans on a greater scale, where constructive criticism becomes a rant, but who are the top ten Premier League scapegoats?
Click on Darron Gibson below to see the top 10 scapegoats of the season
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Listen to the third episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. – Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and singer/songwriter Alistair Griffin, who performs a live version of his cult tribute to Mark Viduka, with Razor on backing vocals!
West Ham head to Eastlands on Sunday knowing the writing is on the wall for their future in the top flight.The Hammers are bottom of the league and have lost their last four matches.
City are fourth, four points clear of Tottenham. They maintained their push for a Champions League spot with a 1-0 win over Blackburn on Monday.
It was also their 15th clean sheet, the equal best in the division, with Manchester United and Chelsea. City have also conceded only 30 goals, just three more than Chelsea.
Spurs are at Chelsea on Saturday and Arsenal face leaders Manchester United on Sunday. If all three games go to form, City would be seven points clear of Tottenham with four games to play and just two points behind the Gunners with a game in hand.
West Ham, meanwhile, are looking worryingly at relegation to the Championship following six seasons in the Premier League.
When the Hammers were last relegated, in 2003, they won three and drew one of their last four games but still went down.
They amassed 42 points that season but still could not avoid the drop. They have won just 13 of their 32 points away from Upton Park.
Manager Avram Grant cannot use Wayne Bridge at City as the defender is on loan from Eastlands and is ineligible.
Mark Noble, who damaged a stomach muscle in the 3-0 defeat at Chelsea, is out for three weeks while Scott Parker is also a likely absentee, meaning West Ham will be short of midfielders.
West Ham are hoping Matthew Upson recovers from the chest infection that ruled him out of the loss at Stamford Bridge.
Even owner David Sullivan fears the worst.
After City, West Ham face relegation rivals Blackburn and Wigan before finishing at home to Sunderland, who should have little riding on the game.
Sullivan added: “We still have at least a 25-30 per cent chance of staying up so all is not yet lost.”
City manager Roberto Mancini will have one eye on the FA Cup final at Wembley against Stoke City in two weeks.
Carlos Tevez is still receiving treatment for a hamstring injury and he has been given an ultimatum that he must return against Tottenham on May 10 if he is to be considered for the final.
One player keen to add to his match-winning performance against Blackburn will be striker Edin Dzeko.
The Bosnian will be keen to start against the Hammers and impress Mancini with the FA Cup showdown in mind.
Sporting Braga manager Domingos Paciencia was delighted with his side’s progression to the Europa League final on Thursday.The Liga Sagres outfit won through to their first European final after a 1-0 second-leg win against Benfica which gave them a 2-2 aggregate result, progressing on away goals.
They will face another Portuguese side, Porto, in the final in Dublin on May 18 and Paciencia sang the praises of his players after reaching the showpiece event.
“I’m happy for the squad, it’s a fantastic group,” Paciencia said.
“They are great professionals and have reason to be proud. It’s unique to be in a final.”
Braga defensive midfielder Custodio won the tie for his side with his 18th-minute header but afterwards he played down his personal performance, insisting it had been a team effort.
“I’m no hero. We all are heroes – those who played, those who stayed on the bench, those who stayed in the stands, the fans,” Custodio said.
“There are no words to describe how we are feeling. It’s fantastic. I want to dedicate this to our families. We will play to win the final. It’s our ambition. We are true warriors.”
Benfica boss Jorge Jesus blamed his side’s failure to convert their chances as the reason why they missed the chance to take on rivals Porto in the final.
Javier Saviola hit the post in the first half and missed a gilt-edged chance with 10 minutes remaining, while Alan Kardec had a header cleared off the line on the verge of injury time.
“We didn’t get lucky,” Jesus said.
“We had several chances and we couldn’t manage to score. The Braga goalkeeper (Artur) was inspired and denied us some chances. We are disappointed.”
Benfica defender Jardel said his side did not deserve to make the final as the disappointment of defeat lingered.
“We’re very sad. We didn’t deserve to go out like this for all that we achieved in the competition until now. Unfortunately we couldn’t score,” Jardel said.
Sergio Aguero , Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez , Juan Mata and Yann M’Vila are just some of the names that Liverpool have been linked with in recent months. For any Reds fan, such names sound exciting but I feel we have to be realistic about the sort of players that will arrive at Anfield in the summer.
Due to the fact that Liverpool will not be in the Champions League or possibly Europe at all next season, it means our sights have to be lowered somewhat. In the case of somebody like Kun Aguero who is expected to leave Atletico Madrid in the summer, the Argentine’s price tag alone of £40m+ will be enough to put off the Reds. On others such as Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez and Juan Mata, price would not be an issue but it will necessarily come down to the specific aims and desires of the players themselves.
For Eden Hazard for example, he has stated recently that he doesn’t want to move to Real Madrid because he fears he wouldn’t get a first team place at the Bernabeu. A potential opportunity for the Reds to exploit then, but Hazard then goes on to explain that Inter or Arsenal would be his preferred destination. Places where he can get first team football but also, crucially, play in the Champions League like he can with Lille next season.
A similar problem would most probably arise when trying to purchase Juan Mata. The Spanish playmaker is a player I have long admired, but if the reports are true that Manchester City are indeed interested, the Reds may have little chance of acquiring the Valencia midfielder. City can offer more money and Champions League football next season, while we would have to hope that our history and stature alone could attract the player. The same could be said of another winger Alexis Sanchez who is also attracting interest from Eastlands.
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At the end of the day, Director of Football Damien Comolli has been tasked with the responsibility of bringing players in who are good value for money. The task will be to find players, near to Hazard, Mata and Sanchez’s abilities, but who are valued at less money and are more likely to come. For that reason, the Reds have also been linked with the likes of Ashley Young , Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam, Marko Marin, Eljero Elia, Iker Muniain and Blaise Matuidi in recent months. Players not necessarily less sought after but more likely to move to Liverpool due to their own contract situations or the circumstances at their own clubs. Young and Downing’s Aston Villa are currently 13th, Adam’s Blackpool are 18th, Marin’s Werder Bremen finished 13th, Elia’s Hamburg finished 8th, Muniain’s Bilbao are in 6th with Matuidi’s St Etienne lying 8th in Ligue One.
Pepe Reina mentioned yesterday that he had spoken to Damien Comolli:
“Recently I have talked with Comolli, asking about the future, and I believe in the club and this project. I am happy here. We know how much work there is to be done, but I believe we are in the right place and we are going in the right direction. Next season will be more positive. The quicker we improve, the better for the club, but we cannot change overnight. The owners are preparing a big summer and hopefully the players that come in will improve the squad.”
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It is clear he wanted to be reassured about the targets the club were pursuing before committing his future. It would be interesting to know what Comolli and Dalglish have in store for the summer but my instincts tell me that the list more like resembles the ones I have listed second, rather the first list at the top of the article. What do you think?
The news that Ewan Chester will leave his role as chief scout at Norwich City is disappointing news to fans of the club. However, clearly Chester is a very respected scout and was always likely to the attract the interest of bigger clubs. That I suppose is the problem with success with the manager, the players and backroom staff all attracting interest. Chester is rumoured to be moving to Chelsea in a role that he will begin with the London club at the start of September. However, there is a curious component to all of this; Chester suggested his new role involved international recruitment.
Now, without reading too much into such a statement it’s at very least the suggestion that Norwich are not heavily involved in looking at players outside the UK. However, without having an in depth understanding of the scouting process at Norwich; it’s a little bit difficult to draw many conclusions.
A quick look through the current Norwich City squad and the signings that Paul Lambert has made in the last two season shows that he prefers signing his players from England; not all of the players Lambert has signed – have been English in nationality. Simeon Jackson and Zak Whitbread play international football for Canada for the USA respectively. However, generally speaking Lambert has felt players need to prove themselves in English football first.
In many ways it’s a very commendable transfer policy and one that Norwich have done well with. It is also a policy that disputes the theory that value can’t be found with signing top quality players that are English and who play in the English leagues. However, does this policy need to change as the club enters the Premier League? Well it seems remarkable that Norwich is entering a division that has such an influx of foreign players; yet they won’t be considering looking at players that play in foreign leagues.
Paul Lambert looks keen to get his transfer business done early and so far the players he has signed have all played in English football their whole lives. However, Lambert did recently say that he was annoyed about the high prices that are being quoted for players that he has enquired about. Probably the best example of this was the £3.5m offer that was offered for Leeds winger Robert Snograss – but was told that they wouldn’t be prepared to accept an offer below £5m – for a player that has one season of Championship football under his belt.
These comments did cause some people to speculate that Paul Lambert might try his luck abroad – especially with his well known connections in Germany. However, there have been few possibilities linked with only the joke that Miroslav Klose would be a target for Lambert and a vague link to a Swiss international defender. But why wouldn’t Lambert want to buy an overseas player into his squad?
Well I would have thought he would if it was the right player – but Lambert will be conscious of the fact that bringing in players from foreign leagues is a significant risk. Yes, gems can be found like the one that West Brom found last season when they picked up Peter Odemwingie for a bargain price of £2.5m. But equally a lot of money has been spent on players from abroad of the years that have turned out to not have worked out in the Premier League
Norwich fans will also cast their minds back to when Norwich were last in the Premier League and recall a couple of Scandinavian players were signed that didn’t have the desired impact. So it is understandable that Paul Lambert may want to avoid a repeat. Therefore, it may not be a bad policy to use British players for Norwich’s first season in the Premier League. But if Norwich continues to progress then they will surely have to look at international recruitment seriously.
In order to make that a smooth transition then really the club should set-up international scouting system at this point; with Ewan Chester leaving his role then there seems to be an opportunity to do just that. Despite how well Lambert has done with the current squad – I strongly believe international recruitment will play an important part of any success Norwich have in the future – especially given the high price of top English players.
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Fulham are reportedly keen to bring ex-Liverpool defender John Arne Riise back to the Premier League, and are preparing an offer for the 30-year-old according to Sky Sports. The Norwegian international is entering the final year of contract with current club Roma, and the Italian side are believed to be eager to sell to avoid the Scandinavian leaving on a free transfer next summer.
New Cottagers manager Martin Jol is looking to strengthen his squad, with an extra option at left back needed as Carlos Salcido is expected to leave the club as he is homesick. A move for Liverpool fringe player Paul Konchesky was rumoured, but the London club’s interest has apparently waned in recent weeks.
Riise spent seven years in England with the Anfield club, and may be swayed to move the club as his brother, Bjorn Helge, already plays for the Craven Cottage side. His future in Rome is under threat, as new boss Luis Enrique is expected to bring his own players to the Italian capital, with Sporting Lisbon’s Jose Angel his preferred option at left back.